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Ricky Schroder was born in Brooklyn, New York, and raised in Staten Island. His parents are Diane, a telephone company employee, and Richard Schroder, a telephone company district manager. He is of Norwegian and German heritage.

Schroder first acting role came in 1979 when he was 9 years old, in the remake of the movie The Champ (starring Jon Voight). Schroder won the Golden Globe Award for Best New Male Star of the Year in a Motion Picture. After that, he appeared in films like The Earthling and Little Lord Fauntleroy. However, Schroder is best known for his lead role in the TV series Silver Spoons. He appeared in the show through all its duration, from 1982 to 1987.

After the show ended, Schroder appeared in the popular TV mini-series Lonesome Dove (with D.B. Sweeney). Several years later, he reprised his role for the sequel miniseries, Return to Lonesome Dove, which starred Jon Voight and featured Dennis Haysbert in a supporting role. Schroder is also known for his portrayal of Det. Danny Sorenson in NYPD Blue (with Andrea Thompson and Esai Morales) from 1998 to 2001.

On a 2007 interview, Schroder said that the action of 24 "appealed" to him in order to sign up for the role. He added that "24 is a great action show. I've never really done such great action — running and jumping and explosions". About working with Kiefer Sutherland, Shcroder said:

"Kiefer [Sutherland] is a lot of fun to work with. He brings so many ideas to the set, and he elevates the material — his ideas and his intensity. After being in (the show) six years, it's really refreshing to see an actor so committed to working his butt off every day and not phoning it in."[1]

Schroder with Bauer

On a 2013 interview, when asked about the possibility of returning to the show, Schroder said:

"Kiefer [Sutherland] was so awesome to work with. He's very talented and a good chess player. He and I had a lot of fun playing chess on the set. So I'd love to play some more chess with Kiefer."[2]

During Season 6, Schroder gave first assistant director Nicole Burke a puppy Border Collie, which she named Bauer. According to Burke, the dog was present on set during the filming of the next three seasons.